BACKGROUND: Organ transplants from donors with malignancies represent only a small percentage of all organ donation, while there is a huge demand for transplants. Chromophobe tumors, despite being large and well-circumscribed, usually have a very good prognosis and generally do not metastasize. Although transplantations of kidneys after resection of small renal tumors have been already reported, there are no scientific reports escribing transplantation of a kidney after chromophobe renal cell carcoma removal.

CASE REPORT: A 36-year-old woman was incidentally diagnosed with left kidney tumor during computer tomography scanning and was qualified for laparoscopic left radical nephrectomy. The initial result of histopathological examination of the tumor indicated oncocytoma. The patient did not agree to autotransplantation but instead proposed donating her kidney for transplant to her mother, who was undergoing peritoneal dialysis. At 16 h after removal, after fulfilling all requirements, the kidney was transplanted into the patient’s mother and proper function of the kidneys was restored. The final result of histological examination showed a chromophobe renal cell carcinoma without capsule infiltration. The recipient was informed of the possible consequences of transplantation. Now, 33 months after the transplantation, donor and the recipient have no evidence of neoplastic disease and the function of the transplanted kidney is qualified as good.

CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge this is the first reported case of transplantation of a kidney after removing this size of chromophobic cancer, together with long-term observation. Transplantation of a kidney after small-tumor resection is an option to fill the gap between organ donation demand and supply.

Keywords: Carcinoma, Renal Cell, Kidney Transplantation, Tissue and Organ Procurement